In July 2008, the Historic Port Cities in the Straits of Malacca, George Town and Melaka were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites for their living culture, history, architecture and multiculturalism.

This global acknowledgement of the universal importance of Malaysia’s rich and diverse cultural heritage places George Town and Melaka on par with other World Heritage Sites like the Great Wall of China, Angkor Wat, Borobudur, Venice and Istanbul.

Given the national importance of these areas, the Government announced in Budget 2009 a public funding programme to protect and further strengthen the living history, architecture and multiculturalism in George Town and Melaka.

This funding, which is now known as the George Town Grants Programme (GTGP), will be utilized to carry out programmes jointly with civil society and the private sector, capacity building and capability development for the protection and development of the living heritage, culture and architecture and to provide support for the re-generation of the area

The operating principles of the GTGP are:

• Develop community-level strategies and implement programmes that enhances George Town’s Outstanding Universal Values over time.
• Gather lessons from community-level experience and initiate the sharing of successful strategies and innovations among stakeholders.
• Build partnerships and networks of stakeholders to support and strengthen the community, particularly promoting sustainable development.
• Ensure that conservation and sustainable development strategies and projects that protect the World Heritage Site are understood and practised by communities and other key stakeholders
• Stimulate public-private partnerships especially in heritage-related projects
• Provide incentives to property owners to adopt heritage conservation as a way of life